GAZA / CAIRO - One million women and girls are facing mass starvation, violence, and abuse in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said Saturday on social media platform X.
"Hunger is spreading fast in Gaza ... Women and girls are forced to adopt increasingly dangerous survival strategies like venturing out in search of food and water at the extreme risk of being killed," UNRWA said.
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It urged lifting the Israeli blockade on Gaza, home to more than 2 million people, and bringing in humanitarian aid "at scale."
The remarks came as Gaza-based health authorities reported on Saturday 11 more deaths, including a child, from famine and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of hunger-related deaths to 251, including 108 children.
The total number of people killed by Israeli strikes since October 2023 has topped 61,800, with more than 155,000 wounded, according to the health authorities.
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On Thursday, 108 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) noted in a joint statement that since March 2, "most major international NGOs have been unable to deliver a single truck of lifesaving supplies" due to Israel's limit on humanitarian aid entering Gaza, and in July alone, over 60 requests from dozens of NGOs were denied under Israel's justification that they are "not authorized to deliver aid."
On Friday, the UN Human Rights Office said that between May 27 and Aug 13, at least 1,760 Palestinians were recorded killed while seeking aid in Gaza, 994 in the vicinity of the non-UN militarized sites and 766 along the routes of supply convoys.
'Greater Israel' remarks
Thirty-one Arab, Islamic countries, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Gulf Cooperation Council have strongly condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statements about realizing a so-called "Greater Israel" in a joint statement.
The statement, released late Friday, condemned the Israeli prime minister's remarks as "a flagrant breach" of international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions, affirming the invalidity of any measure or decision seeking to legitimize the occupation, including settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The countries signing the statement include Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Gambia, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
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The statement termed the Israeli comments as a direct threat to Arab countries' national security, the sovereignty of states, and regional and international peace and security.
It also strongly condemns the approval by the far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich of the settlement plan in the "E1" area and his radical statements rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state, stressing that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory.
The statement warned against the grave dangers of Israeli intentions and policies aimed at annexing Palestinian territory, and reaffirmed the need for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, along with ensuring unconditional humanitarian access.
It also reiterated the rejection of the displacement of the Palestinian people in any form and under any pretext.
Earlier this week, Netanyahu told i24 TV news that he feels he is on a "historic and spiritual mission," and that he is "very" attached to the vision of the "Promised Land and Greater Israel."
On Wednesday, Smotrich said he had approved the construction of 3,401 housing units for settlers in a particularly controversial area of the occupied West Bank.
